Cars 2 was the first Pixar Cars film to feature international spy missions.
Released in 2011, Cars 2 expands the franchise from American stock-car racing into a globe-trotting spy adventure. Mater is mistaken for an American secret agent and becomes entangled with Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell. Their investigation connects the World Grand Prix with a plot involving alternative fuel and attacks on racers.
The film visits Tokyo, Porto Corsa, and London, giving the Cars universe a much broader geographic scope than the original film. Lightning McQueen remains central to the racing story, but Mater’s espionage storyline receives major emphasis.
Cars is primarily a road-trip and community story, while Cars 3 returns to a more focused racing and mentorship narrative. Cars on the Road is a later television series, not a feature film and not the first entry to use spy missions. Cars 2 is therefore the specific franchise film associated with this international spy format.